


when we meet

by aotbrainrot



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Alive Marco Bott, Alternate Universe - College/University, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff, M/M, Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein-centric, Minor Character Connie Springer, Picnic, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Relationship(s), Tension, kiss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:20:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29708079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aotbrainrot/pseuds/aotbrainrot
Summary: Not all meetings are dramatic, sometimes they are subtle, occurring by a stroke of chance. It is when we look back that we realize how our paths had been set from the beginning. Thats how Jean views him and Marco.
Relationships: Marco Bott & Jean Kirstein, Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein
Kudos: 14





	1. when we met

* * *

He’s bored. Biology class was not somewhere he expected or liked to be in during a warm spring afternoon, alas he's nothing but a student who has to follow the college requirements. The Professor drones on at the base of the hall and Jean catches snippets of what he says, “telencephalon regulates forethought… most recently bothered”. He huffs and begins to doodle in his notebook as he thinks about how much fun he could be having in the fields. At the very least, he hoped he looked cool while he ignored the lecture.

 _Tap, tap._ Jean, wondering who would dare disrupt his little daydream, turns to see some cute guy parted black hair and some freckles. He gives this stranger what he hopes is an intimidating look and turns back to his notebook and his doodles. He does feel a bit bad but something about hearing the professor go on and on about cells, plants, animals, and everything in between has him extremely annoyed.

 _Zips. Shuffles._ He smiles to himself as he hears the telltale signs of a lecture room that was about to spill out. He says thank you in his head to the brave students who started putting their things away early as it signified to the professor that it was time to wrap it up. As he puts his notebooks in his backpack, he decides to turn and take a look at the guy who’d tapped him but all he sees is an empty seat.

* * *

As he walks through campus, he tries searching for familiar faces in the crowd of students shuffling around him, but he doesn’t and his loneliness at college engulfs him. Getting back to his dorm room is his only goal and he accidentally bumps into many people as he shuffles along. He finally reaches his dorm room and as he walks in he notices a guy in the living room that isn't his housemate. The stranger glances up at him and Jean notes that he looks vaguely familiar then realizes he was the guy that had been tapping during biology class. 

They stare at each other for a couple of seconds, Jean feels something he doesn’t quite understand, if he was crazy, he’d call it a _spark_. The guy breaks the little trance Jean is in by standing up, stretching out his hand, and saying “Hello, my name is Marco and Connie invited me over, I’m guessing you must be Jean?”. While nodding his head in agreement Jean thinks to himself how typical it is for Connie to invite someone over and not tell him beforehand. After shaking Marco’s hand, he manages a “nice to meet you” before heading to his bedroom. As he leaves, he feels Marco’s eyes on his back, it doesn’t creep Jean out and for some reason he feels an urge to look back at Marco, but he doesn’t.

After some minutes in his room, he finally hears Connie come in and feels glad that Marco finally had company. He wonders why he feels glad about that, perhaps it was something about the way he and Marco had stared at each other. _Marco,_ he says the name out loud and feels it roll off his tongue. It kind of feels like he was _meant_ to say that name.


	2. when we fell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you can't force yourself to fall in love,  
> you just fall  
> And so Jean fell

_it is when i am with him that i feel whole_

_when he smiles, i smile_

_i wish we were one..._

It feels like he’s known Marco for a lifetime, and yet it had only been for a couple of weeks. As he stared out his dorm window, Jean took in the wonderful view that spring brought to the world. The warm hue over campus reminds him of Marco’s eyes, which always seem to have warmth in them and a certain sparkle. He manages to catch himself before he slips into a daydream about Marco. Jean wasn’t normally like this when he thought about his friends, he didn’t always think about their smiles, or about them in that way. But with Marco, he’d discovered many not normal things that made him even more drawn to the boy.

As he keeps an ear out for Marco’s arrival, he worries whether he would be interested in the picnic he’d planned for the day. He decides to tidy up his room to take his mind off what he was sure was just nerves -why did he have nerves? His desk is cluttered with his textbooks and all the notes Marco had written to him during their classes. He wonders if Marco writes notes like the ones he gives him to other people, not that it matters to him if he did, but he did like to feel special.

When he hears Marco knock, he abandons those thoughts with a rush and lets him in. It’s embarrassing really, how hard he smiles at Marco's face and how he takes note of every new detail he finds. With a mockingly grand gesture, he lets Marco into his dorm.

* * *

The picnic was going great and the food was mouthwatering, he had to make sure to thank Sasha for helping him prepare the sandwiches. Their conversation flows easily like it always does, and it’s filled with playful banter, and glances that linger.

Jean doesn’t notice the first raindrop or the second but that was the only warning before the downpour starts. The storm raging above them is nothing compared to the racing feelings in Jeans heart as he and Marco run back to his dorm. Their hands are laced tightly together, and realistically Jean knows it’s probably for support but he can’t help but let his thoughts wander to what could be. The confusion gets too much for Jean and he removes his hands from Marco's and runs ahead of him. The dark-haired boy speeds ahead of Jean and the two decide to make it a race back to Jean’s dorm. By a stroke of luck Marco reaches the wall first with Jean right behind him. As they catch their breaths and the rain is getting heavier, Jean notices how close he and Marco are and it seems like Marco notices at the same time. The storm seems to fade in Jeans' mind because all he can hear are the breaths that Marco is taking and his heart beating, in that moment the world feels small and yet infinite.

Marco’s sneeze breaks the trance and while Jean could swear he noticed a flush on Marcos face, he decides to make nothing of it. When they both look away from each other, their regrets are taken by the wind.

* * *

They get inside Jeans room soaked to the bone and shivering. Marco's teeth are chattering loudly when he asks "Jean do you have something I could change into?" Jean nods in response and gets him a fresh pyjama set. It surprises Jean when Marco simply begins to undress and as much as he tries to avert his eyes, he keeps getting drawn to Marco's body and he feels his face redden. There's nothing more he wants in that moment than to kiss him or even just hug him but his nerves fail him and he sighs. 

They're supposed to be watching a movie while in Jean's bed, but it's been a game of cat and mouse all evening and the roles aren’t particularly clear. Sometimes Marco is the cat when he lets his hand rest on Jean’s thigh while he says a joke that leaves Jean flustered. Sometimes it is Jean doing the flirting when he leans in too close to Marco's face and stares at him in a way that makes him feel bare.

It's during one of those moments where Jean is too close to his face that Marco breaks the intense silence by whispering “Jean, what are we doing?”

The question hangs in the air for a second until Jean responds shakily “Truthfully, I don’t know”.

* * *

When Marco first kisses him, Jean is too stunned to respond. There are a million thoughts racing through his head and his heart is beating abnormally fast and he’s nervous. His thoughts are cut short when Marco kisses him on the cheek and this time it is Jean who initiates the kiss. It starts out tentatively but its sweet and slow. When he puts his hand in Marcos hair, it is as soft as he'd imagined and he smiles against his lips. 

"You don't know how long I've been wanting to do that", Jean says quietly with a smile in his face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter will just be some scenes from Marcos POV, sort of like extras! as always feel free to comment pointers and tips <3

**Author's Note:**

> trying something new, hope someone likes it!


End file.
